Do Results Matter for Trump Critics?
Should statesmanship, grand strategy, and international diplomacy be judged (at least in part) by results? Is that how Trump's predecessors were judged?
For fellow citizens who are history-challenged—or suffer from selective memory—here’s a brief timeline that might help you remember certain events from the not-too-distant past.
SYRIA
August 2012
President Obama warns the Assad government in Syria that using chemical weapons will be crossing a “red line” that the United States will not tolerate.
August 2013
Syrian President Assad launches a sarin gas attack in Ghouta, murdering over 1,400 people, including hundreds of children. U.S. intelligence confirms it was a deliberate chemical strike, an act that crossed Obama’s “red line.”
Obama responds by calling the gas attack “an assault on human dignity” and says he has decided on military action, but will seek Congressional approval first.
There is little public or Congressional support for Obama’s proposed military strike against Syria. More than 60% of Americans opposed intervention, while Congressional lawmakers, facing midterm elections, balk at launching another endless war or military quagmire.
September 2013
Russia intervenes and brokers a deal that requires Syria to join the Chemical Weapons Convention and dismantle its stockpiles under international oversight.
June 2014
Syria hands over 1,300 tons of chemical agents. Oversight is provided by Russian officials.
President Obama claims victory.
Longterm: The Russia-brokered deal doesn’t stop the civil war violence in Syria. Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, remained in power for many years, using non-chemical, conventional weapons to devastating effect. By 2025, the conflict has killed over 500,000 people and displaced half of Syria’s population.
RUSSIA
February 2014
President Obama warns Russia not to enter the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine (often referred to simply as Crimea). Obama voices “deep concern” and threatens Russia that “there will be costs” for Russian invasion of any Ukrainian land.
March 2014
Within days after Obama’s warnings and threats, Russia invades Crimea. By early March, the Russian military controls key infrastructure like airports and government buildings in the Crimean peninsula.
Crimea’s “annexation” is formalized in mid-March 2014 as Russia declares that Crimea is no longer part of Ukraine; it is now part of the Russian Federation.
UKRAINE
December 2015
Vice President Joe Biden threatens that if Ukraine does not stop investigating Burisma, he will withhold a billion dollars of U.S. aid designated for Ukraine.
Burisma is a state-controlled Ukrainian gas company that launders large amounts of money into the personal bank account of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, who was appointed to the Burisma Board of Directors as U.S. foreign aid from the Obama-Biden administration was increasing. (Call it quid pro quo and it’s a crime; don’t, and it’s not.)
Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin was investigating Burisma for corruption and misuse of funds.
January 2018
In a speech delivered at the Council on Foreign Relations, former Vice President Joe Biden brags about telling Ukrainian leaders in late 2015: “We’re not going to give you the billion dollars! You’ve got six hours to fire [Prosecutor Shokin] or I’m leaving.”
RUSSIA (AGAIN)
November 2021–February 2022
Now President of the United States, Joe Biden warns Russia not to attack Ukraine
Biden issues multiple warnings to Russia as intelligence shows a large troop buildup near Ukraine’s borders. On December 7, 2021, Biden speaks with Putin, warning of "strong economic and other measures" if Russia invades. On February 11, 2022, Biden threatens Putin that an invasion of Ukraine will bring “swift and severe costs.”
February 2022
Russia attacks and invades Ukraine.
June 2022
After the Russian invasion, President Biden promises an additional billion dollars of U.S. aid for Ukraine. During a phone call in June 2022, as President Biden is explaining the terms of the additional money, Ukrainian President Zelensky interrupts him and begins asking for even more assistance. Frustrated, Biden raises his voice—shouting, according to sources who were in the room—reminding Zelensky that the American people were being quite generous and that Ukraine should show “more gratitude.”
ISRAEL
October 7, 2023
Joe Biden is the sitting President of the United States, after serving as Barack Obama’s Vice President and after being a member of Congress for nearly four decades (where he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee).
The Islamic terrorist organization Hamas and several other militant groups based in the Gaza Strip launch coordinated armed attacks on Israel. Over 1400 people, including large numbers of civilians, are murdered during the initial assault.
I provide this timeline of recent history because, apparently, large numbers of our fellow citizens in the United States see the statements and events above as emblematic of statesmanship, grand strategy, and respectable international diplomacy.
At a minimum, American progressives certainly did not lament being embarrassed for their country by the ineffective warnings and empty threats issued by Obama and Biden (the only one of which was successful in any was Vice President’s threat of withholding U.S. tax dollars money from the thoroughly-corrupt Ukrainian oligarchy).
Large numbers of Americans, however, seem deeply troubled by the meeting yesterday, during which President Trump and his Vice President—in front of live cameras—pointed out to Ukrainian President Zelensky that Ukraine needs help from the United States more than the United States needs help from Ukraine; that the United States has already sent large amounts of money and other aid to Ukraine; and that any future aid will come in the form of some kind of deal or exchange in which the United States gets something in return from Ukraine.
Exchanges became heated, but not explosive.
If the results from yesterday’s meeting end up being disastrous for Ukraine and/or the Western World—if the war intensifies, if more people die, if Russia fully conquers and “annexes” Ukraine—growing numbers of Americans will denounce Trump and Vance for their conduct of the now-infamous February 28, 2025 meeting with Zelensky.
As with most things, time will reveal much.
The more interesting question is: How will Trump’s seething critics respond if the results from yesterday's meeting turn out to be favorable, even good?
What if Ukraine ends up agreeing with Trump’s proposed mineral deal?
What if Americans set up shop in Ukraine in pursuance of that deal?
What if Russia stops ceases hostilities because they do not want to provoke a war with the United States by accidentally killing Americans in Ukraine?
What if the war comes to an end, there is peace throughout the region, and there remains an independent and sovereign Ukraine?
Will critics then acknowledge in public that the meeting yesterday led to good results and congratulate President Trump and Vice President Vance for their conduct?
More generally, we might ask of our progressive fellow Americans: Are their concerns and complaints serious? Do they involve policies, principles, and measurable results? Or are they merely looking for occasions to vent feelings of anger, loathing, and contempt?
Yeah, yeah, but Orange man bad! So is MAGA, MAHA, & DOGE! Rinse & repeat, with whatever "detergent" as may present itself.